Circuit-controlling apparatus



J. M. ANDERSEN.

cmcun CONTROLLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-26,1916.

Patented Feb. 24, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I -jnveniar 7 mom J. M. ANDERSEN.

CIRCUIT CONTROLLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.26, 1916.

1,332,020. Patented Feb. 24, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Fig: 2.

QUNiTE s rnrns PATENT orrron.

JOHAN M. ANDERSEN ,.OF BOSTON, MAssAoHnsErTsnssIeNon; 'roALBnn'r & J. M.

ANDERSON MANUFACTURING- COMPANY, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, aconlPORATION OF MAINE. v 1

CIRCUIT-CONTROLLING APPARATUS. I

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 24,

Application filed September 26, 1916. Serial No. 122,294.-

'1 b all 2072 0222, it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHAN M. ANDERsnN,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, in the countyof Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inCircuit-Controlling Ap has provision for permitting the circuitcontroller to be manually operated at any time, and to be automaticallyoperated by a motor after the lapse of a predetermined length ofProvision is made for varying the time.

length of time between the manual operation and the automatic operationby varying the time the motor is in operation.

The invention is especially applicable among other uses to be employedin thecircuit of arc lamps, especially'those used on the streets ofcities and like places, whereby an operator can operate the circuitcontroller to cut the arc lamp into circuit, as for instance in theafternoon or evening of one day, and leave the lamp in circuit for apredetermined length of time, as for instance until the morning of thefollowing day, whereupon the circuit controller is automaticallyoperated by the motor mech anism to cut the lamp out of circuit. Theseand other features of this invention-will be pointed out in the claimsat the end of this specification.

Figure 1 is :1 front elevation of an ap- "paratus embodying thisinvention, and

Fig. 2, a section on the line 2-2 Fig. 1,

. showing also a section of areceptacle or casing in which the apparatusis placed.

In the present instance I have illustrated one form ofapparatusembodying the invention, in which (4 represents as a whole arotary electric snap switch of known construction, having movablecontact members Z) actuated by a rotatable shaft 0, and cooperating withstationary contacts or circuit terminals cl, attached to a suitable base,6 which is fastened to a plate f, which forms part of the framework ofa motor mechanism.

The shaft 0 is eXtended through the plate plate and has loosely mountedupon it the hub 10 of a gear 12, which is designed to be rotated in onedirection indicated by the arrow 13 in Fig. 1, by the motor mechanism,which is shown as a spring 14:, having one end fastened to thestationary casing 15 attached to the plate 7, and its other end fastenedto the hub 10. I

The gear 12. is designed to turn freely in one direction byrotation ofthe shaftc and to turn the said shaft when moved in the oppositedirection by the motor or spring let.

To this end, the gear 12 has pivoted on it a pawl 16 which cooperateswith teeth or projections 17 18 on a disk 19, mounted on a reducedportion 20 of the shaft a so as to rotate with said shaft, the said pawlbeing held against the disk 19 by a spring 21, see

Fig. 1.

The gear 12 also has attached to it as by screws 22, a segmental plate23 provided with a hub or boss 24 journaled in a stationary plate 25,forming part of the framework, the said hubhaving a socket 26, which ispolygonal in cross section for the reception of a key (not shown), bymeans of which the hub 24 and the gear 12' may be turned in thedirection of the arrow 26 in Fig. 1 to wind up the spring and thusstore.

a reduced portion 28 of the shaft or spindle I c, which is polygonal incross section and is designed to have fitted over it a suitable key (notshown), by means of which the shaft 0 may be turned by the operator, soas to change the relation'of the movable contacts b to the terminals (Zat the will of the operator.

Rotation of thegear 12 under the influence of the motor or spring 14 isregulated by a time train or clock movement of known construction, whichis numbered 30 and of which the gear 12 and the spring 14: form'a part,the latter constituting the main spring of the said clock movement.

Provision is made for enabling the operator to select the length of timewhich must elapse between the. closing of the switch manually andtheopening of the switch automatically, or in other words, the operatorcan determine at his will how long the andto this end, the hub or thegear 12 has loosely mounted upon it a disk 31, which is provided withaboss 32 carrying a pin 33, which is designed to project beyond the bossand enter one of a series 01 holes in the stationary plate 7, the saidpin being held in the selected hole 3 1 by a spring 35,

see Fig, 2. The pin locks the disk 31 to the plate 7" against rotation,and thereby a the disk stationary until the pin 33 is withdrawn from itshole 31*, by the ope'rator pulling upon a thumb piece or head 36, whichalso serves as a handle by means 01' whlch the operator can turn thedisk on the hub 10, of the gear 12. The'disk 31 is pro--. vided with a'stud or pin e0,which projects into the path of movement of a stud or pin41 carriedby the gear 12 and extended onv both sides of the same. Thepin al-Oserves to limit the movement of the gear 12, when the latter isturned by the key in the hands of the operator'in the direction of thearrow 26 so as to store up power in the spring or motor 14. The stud orpin 4E1 also coiiperates with a stud or pin 4C5, projecting from theplate 25 into the path of movement of the stud 'or pin 11. The stud orpin 40 carried by the rotatable member or disk 31, serves as a stop tolimit the rotation ofthe gear 12 in the direction of the arrow 26 and mbe designated the back stop, and the stud d5 acts as stopto limit themovement of the gear 12 in the opposite direction indicated by the arrow13 and may be designated the front stop. 3

The back stop 40 is movable with the disk 31 and itis capable of beingcarried in a circularpath away from the front stop 15 differentdistances within limits, with the result thatthe back stop ma -bepositioned at the will of the operator, so that the clock will runa-longer or shorter time, as may be desired, betweenthe time the switchis closed by the operator and the time the switch is opened by themotor, which opening of the switch takes place at or about the time theclock is stopped by the stud ti on the gear 12 engaging the stud do onthe plate 25.

In the present instance the stationary I plate 7 is shown as providedwith twenty 'tromthe first hole 34: which is numbered 7 one holes 34,which are arranged in the upper hall of a c1rcle'hav1ng the shaft 0 as acenter. The distance between achacent holes represents an interval ofone half hour, and

the front stop %5 is arranged a little more than the'distanceofa-quarter of a ClI'ClG in 1, and which indicates that when the pin 33is inserted into the hole marked 7, andthe gear 12 is turned in thedirection indicated by the arrow 26 until'the pin -11 on the gear12'engages the backstop 10'on the disk 31, a period'of sevenl'iours willelapse while the motor is turning the gear 12 so'as to carry the pin 41from engagement with the back stop 10 into engagement with the frontstop 45, or in other words a period 01 seven hours will elapse from thetime the operator closes the switch to the time the latter isautomatically opened."

11 it is desired that the circuit of the arc lamp should remain closed alonger period oi time,'.the operator withdraws the locking pin 33 andturns the disk 31 until the looking pin has been brought into alinementwith the hole 3% indicative of the desired period of-time. In Fig. 1,the locking pin 33 is represented as entered into the hole v3-1- whichis numbered 12. The operator then turns the hub 2%. with G e largekeyreferred to until the pin 4:1 is engaged with the back stopO, atwhich time the motor or spring 141 will have been wound up enough toinsure it turning-the gear 12 for the period of 12 hours. hen the motorhas been wound u; as described, the operator then tor is stopped bytneengagement ofthe pin 41 with the front stop 15, as represented in Fig.1.By reference to Fig; 1, it will be seen that when the gear 12 is turnedin the direction or the arrow 26 to wind up the spring 1 t 1e pawl '16is moved away from the-tooth 17 but is held in engagement with the'disk19 byrits spring 21, and when the pin 11 engages the back stop e0, thepawl 16 will have been moved away from the V tooth 17 sufficiently farto permit the shaft 0 and the-disk 19 thereon to. be moved a quarterturn by the small key when the operator rotates the shaft 0 in thedirection of the arrow 26' to close the switch. The tooth 17 is thusplaced in the path of movement of the pawl 16 so asto be engaged therebyafter the gear 12 has been moved a certain distance in the directionindicated by the arrow 13, which engagement takes place toward the endof the selected period of time, and after thepawl 16 haspieked up thetooth 17, the-disk turned with the gear 12 a certain distance before theswitch is opened, so as to wind up the spring 50 of the snap switch andeffect 21 quick opening of the; latter at or about the time thepin-engages the front stop 45.

If it is desired that the lamp should burn a. longer period of time, asfor instance from 13 to 17 hours, the locking pin 33 is moved intoengagement witlrthe hole 34 bearing 19 and its shaft 0 are 'ciently toremove the number-indicative of the desired period of time, say 17, andthe gear 12 is then turnedby the large key rmtilarrested by the pin 41engaging the back stop 40, whereupon the switch wis closed with thesmaller key referred to.

When the gear 12 is turned more than a half circle the pawl 16 iscarried beyond the tooth on the ratchet disk 19 in theclosed position ofthe switch, adistance suflicient to insure that a period of time overthe 12 hours should elapse before the pawl is en gaged with the tooth 18so as to turn the shaft 0. The snapswitch a'is peculiarly adapted foruse in theapparatus, as it is constructed to provide for a quick breakof the switch, by means of the coiled spring 50, which is wound up byturning the shaft 0 while the desired period of time is lapsing from thetime the switch is turned on by the operator to the time it isautomatically opened by the spring 50, being coiled suffithe contactmembers I) from the terminals (5; From the above description, it will beseen that the apparatus is especially serviceable among other uses, tobe used for controlling arc lights employed in cities for streetlighting, as it enables the lights to be turned on by an operator at anydesired time at night, and renders it unnecessary for the operator toturn OK the lights in the morning, and by reason of the fact that thelength of time the light shall burn is under the control of theoperator, light shall be turned off may be varied to suit the differentperiods of the year, that is, in the summer time the lights can beautomatically turned off at an early hour in the morning and in winter,at a materially later hour, and in the spring and fall at times betweenthese extremes.

' The apparatus may be conveniently placed in a suitlble receptacle, asfor instance in achamber 51 in the hollow metal pole 52 which supportsthe street are light,

said pole having a movable section 53 which forms a door for thereceptacle 51 and is provided with an opening 54 in line with the shaft0, so as to enable the operator to turn on the light and wind up thespring 14: with his keys without opening the door 53. I have hereinshown one construction of circuit controlling apparatus embodying thisinvention but itis not desired to limit the invention to the particularconstruction shown. 1

Claims: V

1. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a snapswitch provided with a shaft, a gear loosely mounted on said shaft andprovided with a hub, a spring motor having one end connected with saidhub, a stationary casing to which the other end of said spring motor isanchored,

and the time at which the a stationary disk having a series ofholesspaced apart and representing periods of: time, a disk mounted on thehub of said gear to turn thereon, a pin carried by said movable disk andcooperating with the holes in the stationary disk to secure saidmovabledisk in a fixed position, a back stop carried by said movable disk,a'projectionxon said gear cooperating with said back stop, a tootheddisk mounted on the shaft of the said snap switch to rotate therewith, apawl carried by said gear cooperating with said toothed disk toeflectrotation of the snap switch shaft by rotation of said gear, and afront stop cooperating with a projection on the gear to arrest rotationof the gear under the influence of said spring motor.

2. In an apparatus ofthe character described, in combination, a circuitcontroller having a movable member and a rotatable shaft to which saidmovable member is operatively connected, a toothed disk mounted on saidshaft to rotate therewith, a gear loosely mounted on said shaft, a pawlpivoted to said gear and cooperating with said toothed disk, a springmotor connected with said gear to be wound up when the said gear isrotated in one direction, and to 1'0 tate said gear and said shaft inthe opposite direction, adjustable means for limiting the movement ofsaid gear in one direction in different positions, and means to' limitthe movement of said gear in the opposite direction.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a circuitcontrolling member, a shaft to which said member is operativelyconnected, a gear mountedon said shaft to be turned thereon in onedirection independently of the said shaft, a motor for rotating saidgear in the opposite direction, means for coupling said gear with saidshaft to effect rotation of said shaft by said motor and to permit the,shaft to be rotated manu'ally independently of said gear, and means forlimiting the rotation of said gear in opposite directions.

1. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, arotatable shaft, a

gear loose on said shaft, means for coupling said gear with said shaftto permit the said gear to be manually rotated in one direction withoutrotating said shaft and to permit the shaft to be rotated independentlyof the gear, and to permit the said shaft to be rotated by said gear inthe opposite direction, a motor to rotate said gear, a device carrying aback stop and rotatable about said shaft, means for securing said devicein different positions, means on said gear cooperating with said backstop to limit rotation of the said gear and thereby the extent to whichsaid motor is wound up, and a front stop to limit rotation of said gearby said motor. i

5;In an apparatus of the ch'aracterda scribed, ,in combination arotatable shaft, a gear loosely mounted on said shaft, means forcoupling said gear with said shaft to permitthe: said gear to bemanually rotated in one direction Without rotating saidshaftand'rtopermit the said-shafttoberotated by said gearin the oppositedirection, a motor to rotate said gear, aback stop cooperating withsaid-gearto limitmanualrotation of the latter and movable intodilferei1tpositions to vary the distance saidgear maybe manuallyrotated, and a front stop cooper ating with said gear to limit therotationof the latter by said motor. i

6. In an apparatus of the character deloosely mounted concentricallywith relation to said shaft, means for securing said carrierinfiXedpositions to adjust said back 25 stop in different positions, adevice onsaid gear'cooperating with said backstop, and

a front stop cooperating'with the device on said gear.

In testimony name to this specification.

' .JOHAN M. ANDERSEN.

whereof I hare signed my 30

